Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity
is accusing the federal government of targeting it with a politically driven
investigation, after the U.S. Department of Labor slammed the jobs agency for
denying access to jobless benefits.

Perhaps building upon the
IRS's targeting scandal, DEO is asking for Congressional hearings and an Inspector General
investigation into “improper politicization at the United States Department of
Labor.”

“DEO has concluded that the USDOL
investigation appears to have relied on insufficient evidence, fell far below
professional standards, and may have been politically motivated,” the state
jobs agency said in a statement.

In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott and the
Legislature slashed jobless benefits and created new requirements for
applicants, including an online-only application and a 45-question skills
review. DOL initially approved of the changes, which eventually led to a sharp
increase in the number of rejected applications.

Civil rights groups filed
challenges with the federal government over the changes, and the first ruling
came in April. DOL’s Civil Rights Center sided
with the pro-worker groups, finding that DEO’s unemployment aid program
discriminated against people who speak Spanish and Creole, as well as those who
were blind or otherwise disabled.

DEO is now saying that the DOL
findings were “flawed” and based on politics rather than facts. In letters to
Congress and the U.S. Inspector General’s Office, DEO general counsel Robert
Sechen accuses DOL of collaborating with the group that filed the challenge
(the Miami Workers Center).
Sechen also accuses a key DOL official of admitting to having a political
agenda, citing a biography that states the official had worked to “keep the
evil overseers of the Bush administration from dismantling U.S. federal
civil rights laws.”

New Broward County Sheriff Scott J. Israel
has been appointed to the 14-member Florida Violent Crime and Drug Control
Council. Israel defeated incumbent Al Lamberti in November.

Volusia County Sheriff Ben F. Johnson, 62, of Deland, has been reappointed to the council.

The council provides advice and makes recommendations on issues
including gang criminal investigations, money laundering and drug
control.

Teachers recognized at Cabinet meeting

Five of the 2013-2014 District Teachers of the Year were recognized at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting:

Carrie Cooper, Columbia County, Columbia High School

Deborah Hodge, Dixie County, Dixie County High School

Kathy Griffin, Hamilton County, Central Hamilton Elementary School

Nicole Roddenberry, Jefferson County, Jefferson County Elementary School

Kelli Williams, Suwannee County, Suwannee Primary School

Scott, Brogan at TaxWatch awards for cost-cutting employees

Scott will be speaking
at the Florida TaxWatch's awards ceremony for state employees who have
contributed innovative and cost-saving ideas. The 25th Annual Prudential
- Davis Productivity Awards gala will take place from 5 to 8:30 p.m.
June 5 at the Florida State University, University Center Club.

The ceremony will grant 191 awards to state employees from the Tallahassee/Northwest Florida area. Frank Brogan, chancellor of the state university system, will serve as master of ceremonies.

FMA tweaks government affairs team

The
Florida Medical Association is making some changes in its government
affairs team, with some staffers getting new titles and more
responsibility.

Katie Ballard, director of legislative affairs, will play a key part on the FMA's lobbying team along with fundraising efforts.

Eric Carr,
legislative and political grassroots coordinator, will be responsible
for rebuilding the FMA legislative key contact program.

Michelle Jacquis,
director of policy management and legislative operations, will track
bills introduced in the legislature and coordinate public policy
positions.

Holly Miller, governmental affairs counsel, will assume a more active role on the FMA lobbying team.

Monte Stevens, director of governmental affairs and public policy, will manage the FMA’s in-house lobbying team.

FMA General Counsel Jeff Scott providea legal and policy guidance and will draft bills and amendments.

Executive Vice President Timothy J. Stapleton will be responsible for developing and implementing the FMA's overall legislative and political strategy.

Scott signed SB 1770 on Wednesday,
one day after the reform proposal reached his desk. The bill creates a “clearinghouse”
to direct policies out of Citizens and into the private market, and includes several
reforms that address controversies and scandals that have taken place at
Citizens.

In a sharply worded missive, Scott
focused mainly on those scandals, using words like “outrageous,” “egregious,” and
“fraud, waste and abuse.”

“This new Inspector General will be
accountable to the Cabinet and will not be an entity Citizens can fire, as they
did with their old compliance officers,” Scott said in a statement. “A strong
Inspector General is needed to provide independent oversight at Citizens and to
end the fraud, waste, and abuse which has plagued Citizens for too long.”

Scott also called on Citizens to
change its policies after a controversial deal worth up to $52 million deal for
Heritage Property and Casualty Company, which is looking to take over 60,000 policies from the state-run insurer. Critics have blasted the
quickly-approved deal for the nine-month-old St. Petersburg company, which contributed
$110,000 to Scott’s reelection campaign in March. Scott said the board should require at least
seven days notice before any future board meetings, in accordance with state agency guidelines. The Heritage deal was unveiled on a
Friday, and voted out on the following Wednesday in a 3-2 vote. Several board
members complained that there was not enough time to vet the proposal, a
concern echoed by House Speaker Will
Weatherford and Chief Financial Officer JeffAtwater.

Citizens has stood by the Heritage
deal, saying that it was thoroughly vetted for several weeks and would significantly
reduce the company’s liability, which is backed by the state’s consumers.

"The financials associated with this deal are
significantly in our favor," Citizens President Barry Gilway said
Wednesday.

After Gov. Rick
Scott’s highly prioritized manufacturing tax cut passed the Florida Legislature
without receiving a two-thirds vote majority, legislative staff analysts have had a change of
heart and now believe such a supermajority was not necessary.

Last month, staff analysts in the
Florida Senate said emphatically that a two-thirds vote was required, because
the proposed sales tax exemption for manufacturing equipment would put a
significant dent into local government revenue.

“Therefore, this bill requires passage by 2/3 of the
membership of each chamber,” the legislative
analysis dated April 2, 2013 states. The House analysts also raised the
two-thirds vote as a possibility, and a top official in Scott's office told the Herald/Times in February he believed a supermajority vote was required.

On May 2, an amended version of the bill cleared the
House in a hurriedly cast 68-48 vote, with all Democrats and a few Republicans voting against it. Despite falling short of the 80-vote
supermajority previously cited, House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, quickly declared the bill
passed, and brushed aside concerns about its constitutionality. Democrats
immediately promised
to sue.

“We think it is extremely constitutional,” Weatherford said
after the contentious
vote, stating that he had discussed the issue with legislative legal staff.
He followed up with a statement asking “Who would sue to stop a tax cut”?

Now, the non-partisan legislative analysts in the Florida House have
backtracked from their initial claim that the bill might need a two-thirds majority
and have fallen in line with the House Speaker’s position on its constitutionality.

An updated
staff analysis from the Florida House, dated May 15, strips all references to Article VII, section
18 of the Florida Constitution (the portion protecting local governments from
unfunded mandates). All previous staff reports had at least cited the
constitutional clause, highlighting the requirement for a two-thirds majority
vote when local government revenue is at stake. The Senate had been more definitive about the 2/3 vote requirement than the House, and a new analysis was not done by the Senate.

A spokesperson for Weatherford said final bill analyses traditionally do not include information about constitutionality.

Whereas initial staff analyses mentioned Department of
Economic Opportunity estimates of up to $115 million in lost revenue for the state, the updated review does not cite any cost figure. DEO has estimated that the tax cut could cost cities and counties up to $26 million per year.

The final bill analyses does not cite those numbers, or any others, only stating that “it is not anticipated the provisions would
significantly affect the authority of the counties and municipalities to raise
revenue in the aggregate.”

The words “significantly” and “aggregate” are key, because the
Constitution requires a two-thirds vote for any bill that has a significant impact
on local governments revenue-collecting abilities. A sales tax cut for
manufacturers will likely reduce the amount of revenue coming in to local government
coffers.

Under the bill, the revenue loss for local
governments—estimated at $13 to $26 million per year—far exceeds the $1.9 million
threshold needed to qualify as a “significant” impact. But the Legislature's legal team has seized on the term “in the aggregate” to justify the bill’s
constitutionality.

"Based on our staff's estimate, it does not have a significant impact," said Ryan Duffy, a spokesperson for Weatherford.

Case law on the issue is not definitive, so a lawsuit could
set a legal precedent for the future.

Of note, the bill has changed since the first staff analyses,
but the final version would still have a annual impact on
local government revenue. Under the original bill, the sales tax cut would have
kicked in this year and lasted forever. The updated bill creates a three-year
tax cut period starting in 2014. It could save manufacturers more than $140 million per year, when state and local tax savings are combined.

The proposal was one of Scott’s top priorities for the 2013
session, as the governor said eliminating taxes on machinery will help “build
up” manufacturing jobs in Florida.

Scott, who is expected to sign the bill soon, recently
wrapped up a “victory tour” across the state to celebrate the bill’s passage.

“Manufacturers in Florida
have been disadvantaged for too long because we were one of few states that
taxed the purchase of manufacturing equipment,” Scott said in a statement. “With
this legislation, Florida
is now on a level playing field.”

National Football League hall of famer and former Miami
Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino made a special appearance Thursday at the Florida House,
where lawmakers have stalled on an effort to give the Dolphins taxpayer support
for a stadium upgrade.

Marino is the fourth high-profile figure from the NFL to
show up in Tallahassee
this week. On Monday, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, NFL commissioner Roger
Goodell and team CEO Mike Dee spent hours in the Capitol talking to lawmakers
about the Dolphins stadium effort.

Marino met with House Speaker Will Weatherford, other House members and Gov. Rick Scott to talk about his foundation, and the sports stadium bill.

"I'm definitely supporting the whole thing with the stadium," he told the Times/Herald before meeting with Scott. "I'm a Dolphin for life and a South Floridian for life.

Weatherford told Marino he thought the sports stadium bill had a "good chance" of passing before Friday.

The Dolphins need Tallahassee
approval in order to get taxpayer support for its proposed stadium upgrade and
the legislative session is nearing an end without a deal.

The bill passed the Senate on Monday, but was in danger of
failing in the House, which has faced procedural gridlock this week as
Democrats protested a stalemate over healthcare reform. Session ends Friday.

Marino walked into Gov. Rick Scott's office around 3 p.m on Thursday after meeting with other lawmakers. In addition to being a former Dolphins quarterback, Marino has a foundation to support autism research and treatment. He has traveled to Tallahassee in the past to gin up support for his foundation and cause.

An honorary co-chair of of South Florida's Super Bowl bid committee, Marino also used the opportunity to speak to lawmakers about the sports stadium bill.

"I think it would be great for the community," said Marino. "People have got to understand the economic impact it would have on our community. Not only the jobs, but revenue for businesses, and there's great examples of that throughout the year's Super Bowls have been here, and national championships. From that respect, I'm all for it. Hopefully it'll work out."

If the bill passes and a referendum vote is approved, the
Dolphins could receive up to $289 million in taxpayer support from an increase
in the Miami-Dade hotel tax, from 6 to 7 percent. It would also offer the team
up to $90 million in state sales tax rebates.

If the bill doesn't pass, the referendum vote--scheduled for May 14 and already underway via early voting--would be called off.

The team is looking to spend more than $350 million for its
stadium upgrade and has agreed to pay much of the tax money back after 30
years.

Bill Nelson looked like the heavy favorite for the Democratic
gubernatorial nomination to unseat vulnerable Republican Gov. Bob
Martinez in April 1990. But as Martinez continued to beef up his
reelection campaign account and then-U.S. Rep. Nelson remained little
known to much of Florida, Democrats fretted over Nelson’s prospects.

Soon
former Sen. Lawton Chiles confirmed the bombshell rumor: Yes, he would
run for governor. Nelson gamely continued campaigning, but it was
hopeless against the popular elder statesman. “Walkin’ Lawton” went on
to crush Nelson by more than 30 percentage points and then Martinez by
13 points.

More than two decades later, U.S. Sen. Nelson is the
elder statesman of Florida’s Democratic Party, and the buzz is growing
about him stepping into the governor’s race to take on unpopular
incumbent Gov. Rick Scott. With many Democratic leaders worried about
the baggage of former Gov. Charlie Crist, Nelson has emerged as the
potential savior of Florida Democrats.

The latest noise came Thursday when Roll Call, a Washington,
D.C.-based newspaper, reported on its web site that Nelson was mulling
over a possible run.

“I’d say that’s true, that he’s considering
it,” Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin told the newspaper. “An awful lot
of people have contacted him and asked him to do so. But — and as he’s
said a number of times — he presently doesn’t have any intention of
running. He’s got a job to do as a senator.” More here from Tampa Bay Times' Adam Smith.

Florida's decision in 2011 to make people who apply for benefits do so online and take an "assessment" before getting a check are a violation of civil rights, DOL found.

The Department of Economic Opportunity has agreed to enter negotiations with DOL to make appropriate changes, according to a press release from the National Employment Law Center, Florida Legal Services, the Miami Workers Center and other groups.

DEO defended its program, and said the Department of Labor knew about the changes before they took place.

"DEO questions many of the
initial findings by DOL," DEO spokesperson Monica Russell said in a statement. "DOL was aware of the legislative changes to the reemployment
system before its passage in 2011 and provided no objection."

At 16 percent, Florida recently ranked lowest in the nation for the “recipiency rate” of jobless benefits (i.e., the number of eligible people receiving aid.)

Many blamed changes made by Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature for the low rate of jobless benefits recipiency. A 2011 law forced all applicants for benefits to do so online, putting an end to applications by phone or paper. The law also required applicants to take a 45-question “assessment” to gauge their skills. Several groups filed a legal challenge saying the changes were discriminatory against those with disabilities and low English proficiency.

“The online requirements created severe obstacles for thousands of Florida jobseekers, especially those with limited English proficiency or disabilities that prevent them from using a computer,” the pro-worker groups said in a statement.

Voting on a
major insurance overhaul was postponed again Wednesday, indicating that
fear of skyrocketing rates is weighing down the bill in the
Florida Senate.

Bill sponsor David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said last
week that he has enough support for the bill, but wanted more time to make
amendments and build more consensus.

He pulled the bill from the agenda right before the first
scheduled vote last week. The same thing happened Wednesday, when the bill was
again “temporarily postponed.” After cruising through the committee process,
the bill has been delayed on the floor of the Senate three times in the last
two weeks. It has been amended nearly 40 times.

Simmons said he would amend the bill in order to address
concerns of lawmakers who are worried about the pocketbook impact on their
constituents.

The 100-page bill seeks to shrink the level of risk carried by
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by raising its rates and forcing its policyholders
into the private market. The rate hikes are mostly focused on new policyholders
at the state-run Citizens and those who have high-risk “wind-only” coverage.

Citizens’ president Barry Gilway said earlier this month that
the bill could lead to rate hikes of 60 percent or more in 11 counties across the
state. Many of those large increases would be for the wind-only homeowners.

Gov. Rick Scott sent letters to Illinois
business owners this week, telling them to book a “one-way” ticket to Florida and set up shop in the Sunshine State.

In the letter, Scott touts Florida’s economic
recovery, low taxes and shrinking state debt. He continues his “It’s working”
theme by painting Florida
as a state that has undergone an “incredible economic turnaround” under his
watch. In contrast, Scott writes, Illinois
is raising taxes and has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

“While Florida’s
economic formula is working, we know Illinois’
formula of more taxing and more spending ISN’T WORKING,” Scott writes.

Scott, who references the state of Texas in his letter, is
taking a page from Gov. RickPerry’s playbook. Earlier this year,
Perry aired a radio ad in California bashing
the state for raising taxes and welcoming California
businesses to Texas.
Perry followed the ad up with a recruiting trip to the state.

It’s not the first time Scott has
tried to poach businesses from a high-tax state. Last year, Scott
sent letters to New York businesses telling them to come to Florida. It’s not clear if Scott was successful in recruiting any New York businesses to Florida. New York is also playing offense in the job
recruitment wars. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been airing ads
in Florida
and elsewhere for more than a year touting the state’s reduction in business
and property taxes

A Leon
County judge has again
blocked part of the landmark auto insurance overhaul enacted last year by the
Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott.

Judge Terry Lewis upheld a temporary ban on the
law, after a lawsuit by chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists.
Lewis approved
the ban last month, indicating that the overhaul of Florida’s Personal Injury Protection laws
was unconstitutional.

Gov. Rick Scott appealed the decision, in effect putting
the ban on hold and leaving the law intact. But the plaintiffs asked a judge to
uphold the ban, saying that allowing the law to remain in place would put many
out of business.

Lewis said he agreed to “vacate the stay,” not
because of the harm that would be done to the plaintiffs, but because of
potential harm to those injured in car accidents.

“The reason for issuing the injunction was to
protect this constitutional right and prevent the potential harm to citizens
injured in automobile accidents who, under the PIP statute, may not receive
necessary care,” he wrote.

Scott's office said it would again challenge the decision, and attempt to keep the law in place.

The 2012 PIP overhaul targeted chiropractors,
massage therapists and acupuncturists, restricting their ability to provide
covered treatment for people injured in auto accidents. The bill also limited
covered medical care to $2,500 if the injured person does not have “an
emergency medical condition.” The typical policy limits under Florida’s no-fault law are $10,000. The law
was aimed at cracking down on fraud within the PIP system.

Lewis found those changes likely violate the part
of the Constitution that provides for access to courts. The case remains
pending.

The PIP overhaul was a top priority of Gov.Rick Scott in 2012, and is another example of a
law the governor pushed, only to see a judge rule it unconstitutional months
later. The Legislature floated the idea of doing away with PIP this year after
Lewis’ ruling, but ultimately decided to allow the court battle to play out.

The chiropractors had a better outcome in state
court than they did in federal court, where a judge denied the plea for an
injunction in December.

Scott's office said the state has filed a lawsuit to challenge Lewis' decision.

"The solicitor general filed a challenge to the circuit court's decision to lift the stay," said a spokesperson for the governor.

Scott indicated in a statement last month that he would fight to keep the PIP changes in place.

“Our reforms are working to lower insurance costs for Florida families and we will continue to fight special interest groups to keep them in place,” he said.